Why Consider Headshots as Part of Your Rebranding Strategy?

One of the key times that clients come to our New York corporate headshot photographers is when they are considering a full corporate rebranding project. They want to update their overall look, which can include their website, their logo and their overall corporate identity. The goal is to show clients, through updated design, language and business photography, who they are right now as a company.

How should you rebrand?

The first thing that people notice before they read a word of text, is the visuals - design and photography. It takes 7 seconds for a viewer to form an impression of the business so visuals need to take the lead. Updated photography should be part of that thinking and make an integral part of your corporate rebranding project. Further, as part of the project, a company may want to highlight their people, showing the world who they are now, with current photos of their people taken with an eye towards appropriately current stylistic trends.

A business should bring in a New York corporate headshot photographer for an update every 2-5 years, max. Here are a few reasons it can look dated or obsolete:

Fashions change - current and modern or updated but classic is what you want. If clothes look like they are out of the 90’s, people will get the impression that your business thinking is out of the 90’s.
Hairlines change - as do hairstyles, skin tone, aging, etc. If your lead salesperson is unrecognizable from his current headshot due to major shifts in, ahem, hairline, that is not good. A good photographer will make people look their personal best at any age and, really, this is what your clients want to see. If you are using a 25 year old photo of you to represent your 40 year old self, clients will wonder what else you are hiding.
Staff change - Any business is likely to have staff changes. People come and go over the years. Keep that roster current with updated business headshot photography. Your staff will appreciate that you want them representing you on your website.

A great way to help in rebranding your company is to call in a New York headshot photographer

Finally, there is the familiarity you create when posting business headshots of your team. Clients like to know who they are working with. If you are in a business where you will meet the client, that first look is a way to make you feel familiar. If you are in the kind of business where your clients rarely meet you, knowing what the person on the other end of the email or phone looks like builds comfort and an affiliation. Putting a face to a name really assists with connecting you and your client, a valuable outcome of a rebranding strategy.

How a New York Corporate Headshot Photographer Can Help Develop the Theme in Your Brand?

As discussed, your clients first impression is made through visuals on your website and other social channels. This being key, you should allow time and budget for making sure that your plans for headshot fits cohesively into your overall design, that the photos feel current and that they make the right impression.

In our opinion, a corporate rebrand should not be a do-it-yourself endeavor. Our recommendation, if the budget allows, is to work with a professional designer in some capacity. They can help you with everything from logo design to font choice, to page planning, to content production. If this exists in-house at your company, fantastic. If not, it is worth the investment in hiring help.

What you will spend on a designer, you will save in time. You will plan and organize better and your rebrand will launch in a more timely way.

But we digress... Get yourself a good designer whose work you like and who has done projects similar in scope to yours. Search online for words like, “website design trends 2020”, “midsize law firms”, “corporate rebrand design” or “design firm awards”. Look at websites you admire of companies that seem comparable in size and scope. See if they will give you a reference to their web designer.

There are a few ways to find the right person. Visit design websites like UpWork and 99 Designs. You can identify criteria that you want from your designer and get a list back to contact.

Once you have the big picture concepts in place, it is time to start considering how you will use a New York business photographer to help complete your website. More specifically, you will start to understand how your corporate headshot photography will fit into the bigger picture creatively and logistically.

Next, think about what kind of photography is appropriate for your company. If you are a law firm you might want to update to a more modern corporate look - something that looks great, but feels very professional. A makeup company might want a look that has more of a beauty element to it. A tech company might want something slightly edgy. Not all headshots are the same. Choosing the right look for your company will only compliment your rebranding efforts.

Check out these tips on how to prepare for your teams’ corporate headshots.

More things to consider: Do you want the photos to be black and white? Color? Against a solid background? Inside a boardroom or office environment? Where will you use the photos? Will they be on a roster? Do you want the photos in a landscape, square or vertical format? These decisions will become obvious once your creative planning has begun.

There are quite a few details to consider. When you are working on a corporate rebranding project, you will save on time and money and build a more cohesive product if you plan for these kinds of questions from the well before you shoot.

When is the Right Time to Book A Business Headshot Photographer During Your Corporate Rebrand?

We have people that contact us at all stages of their corporate rebranding project. We are always happy to help at any stage.

Our favorite time to be contacted is after a business has started working with a designer, and is in the middle of forming their gameplan. We can be most effective when rebranding plans are starting to gel but there is still wiggle room for changes.

We will want to know, or work with you to uncover, what your goals are. What are you thinking about creatively? How many people will you need to cover? We will also want to know technical things like how you need the files prepared, what kind of crop you will use, what image size you will need, etc. Planning ahead for all of this will make it very easy to use our images in the end.

In summary, corporate headshot photography is an important part of a rebranding project. Whether we are leading a project or working collaboratively, the goal is to always create a professional presentation that shows who you are, today, as a company.

Let’s chat about how we can assist you with your corporate rebrand!

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